By RICH TORRES
CARMEL – The night was billed as a clash between two state-ranked Class 4A programs and their respective superstars, but Carmel’s Andrew Owens stole the show on Friday night inside the Eric Clark Activity Center.
With Carmel senior John-Michael Mulloy, a Butler signee, plagued by early foul trouble, Owens ramped up his game for the No. 2 Greyhounds with a game-high 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting to secure a 61-55 win over No. 12 Lawrence Central (1-1).
The victory improved Carmel’s season record to a perfect 2-0 and supplied the Greyhounds with a 1-0 mark to open their 2018-19 Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference schedule.
Mulloy finished with eight points in limited minutes. The 6-foot-10 forward was whistled for two fouls with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter and was charged with four fouls in the game.
Instead of unraveling, the Greyhounds pushed forward while Mulloy went scoreless in the first half. After Lawrence Central claimed five different leads in the first two quarters, Carmel never trailed in the final 16 minutes behind three double-digit scorers.
Senior guard Karsten Windlan had 13 points on 5 of 11 shooting, including a trio of 3-pointers, and Luke Heady chipped in 10 points, converting 8 of 8 attempts from the foul line.
“I was proud of them just sticking with it. There were times I felt like they were on a run and we could have made excuses or pointed fingers, and I thought they did a great job of sticking together,” Carmel head coach Ryan Osborn said.
Owens and Windlan were the glue as the visiting Bears jumped in front 7-5 in the first quarter and tied it 17-all late in the second.
A Windlan 3-pointer at the top of the key swung the margin in Carmel’s favor 8-7 to end the first quarter. Another put his team up 13-11, and a 3-point dagger from Owens with 1:18 left in the first half gave the Greyhounds a 20-17 advantage at halftime.
Owens struck again from deep to cap a 5-0 run to open the second half, which inflated Carmel’s lead 25-17.
“I feel like we really do have a good team effort. First game, we had even scoring, and just like tonight, Mulloy was in foul trouble and struggled,” Windlan said. “But I feel like Andrew Owens really picked it up, and I feel like I picked it up and Luke Heady. As a group we all picked it up and at the end we just really want to win as a team.”
The Greyhounds beat 4A No. 7 Zionsville 66-61 during the season opener at home on Nov. 20 as four players posted 10 or more points. Mulloy had a team-best 15 points ahead of Windlan’s 12, freshman Pete Suder’s 14, and Heady’s 13. Owens only had four points.
Free-throw efficiency and Owens’ sharpshooting against Lawrence Central proved the difference on Friday, however.
Owens buried 6 of 8 jumpers from beyond the arc in the game, and the Greyhounds were 13 of 15 from the foul line in fourth quarter.
Lawrence Central rallied back to start the fourth and cut the deficit 43-40 as Nebraska commit, 6-6 guard D’Andre Davis went on an 8-0 run followed by a bucket from Jake LaRavia, who had 12 points. Nijel Pack, a 6-1 junior guard added 14 points.
Davis recorded a team-high 15 points, but the Carmel defense minimized the damage. Davis had seven points in the first half and shot 6 of 11 from the field overall. He averaged 13.3 points and five rebounds a game as a sophomore last season.
“I thought Robert (Fry) did a good job on him early, contested a lot of his shots and forced him into some tough ones,” Osborn said. “He got into a rhythm a little bit later, but I thought Robert for the most part did a great job on him.”
A 3-pointer by Owens fended off the Bears, who chipped away to pull within one point at 43-42 midway through the fourth. Heady initiated a 10-3 run in the final three minutes with four free throws and a layup.
Mulloy had four points in both the third and fourth quarters. He was 2-for-4 from the field and 4 of 10 from the foul line, but his final shot put Carmel comfortably ahead 54-47.
Heady and sophomore guard Conner Gioia did the rest, going 7 of 8 from the foul line. Gioia was 5-for-6 for five points.
“When John-Michael got in foul trouble early, it never felt like he really got into the flow of it, but we got him some touches late, and he hit some big-time baskets,” Osborn said. “And that’s what he’s going to have to do for us the rest of the year.”
The Greyhounds travel to 4A Pendleton Heights tonight in search of their first 3-0 start since 2016-17.
“This is huge. Our first MIC win in our second game at home for a win, it’s great,” Owens said. “It’s a good start.”
Carmel 61, Lawrence Central 55
Carmel FG FT TP PF
John-Michael Mulloy 2-4 4-10 8 4
Andrew Owens 7-11 0-0 20 0
Luke Heady 1-3 8-8 10 2
Karsten Windlan 5-11 0-0 13 2
Robert Fry 1-3 3-4 5 1
Ben Frische 0-0 0-0 0 0
Conner Gioia 0-1 5-6 5 1
Cole Brady 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 16-33 20-28 61 10
Score by Quarters
Lawrence Central 7 10 13 25 – 55
Carmel 8 12 21 20 – 61
Carmel 3-point shooting (9-14) Windlan 3-5, Owens 6-8, Fry 0-1.
Carmel rebounds (17) Mulloy 4, Heady 3, Windlan 3, Fry 2, Frische 1, Gioia 1, Team 3.